Consumers out of the loop on role of smart meters

Peter Hannam, Anna Patty

"Having a smart meter that tells elderly people at home how much electricity they are using, isn't necessarily going to help them pay their bills." Photo: Ryan Osland

THE problem with smart meters is consumers are not told what's so clever about them and why they need them.

That is the view of Yolande Strengers, a research fellow at RMIT University who has studied energy consumption behaviour in NSW.

In theory, the digital devices should provide consumers with real-time updates of electricity usage and how quickly the household bill is running up. Power companies, meanwhile, benefit by identifying potential faults before they happen and can refrain from dispatching meter-readers to every household and business.

Having that information, however, is of little benefit unless there are sufficient differences in pricing between peak and off-peak levels to make it worth not running the clothes dryer, say, until a cheaper time of day.

''There's a lot of confusion out there,'' Ms Strengers said.

The NSW Minister of Resources and Energy, Chris Hartcher, has released a discussion paper on the introduction of smart meters.

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Victoria has held off introducing a full range of prices until July next year, and even then only for those who opt in.

The cons of smart meters got the headlines, Ms Strengers said, while the benefits were downplayed. One big saving from smart meters the federal and state governments left out was that consumers big and small could lower their power bills by avoiding unnecessary usage during days of peak demand and high prices.

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As studies show, each standard air-conditioner requires about $7000 in extra spending by energy suppliers to ensure they meet reliability standards on the hottest 40 hours or so each year. Smarter use of electricity could blunt, if not eliminate, those spikes.

The chief executive of the Council of Social Service of NSW, Alison Peters, said smart meters were not a perfect answer to reducing electricity bills.

''Having the smart meter that tells elderly people at home how much electricity they are using, isn't necessarily going to help them pay their bills,'' she said.

''People like that need to have the heating or cooling on to avoid health problems.''

The Greens NSW MP John Kaye said no vulnerable customer should be forced to pay more for electricity. ''Low income and vulnerable households should be given financial assistance to offset the costs of purchasing a smart meter,'' he said.

Asked if households would be given any government assistance for smart meters, a spokeswoman for Mr Hartcher said: ''Households won't be forced to install a meter if they choose not to.''

The spokeswoman said the government had not decided whether it supported the wider availability of smart meters. ''The government does not support a mandatory roll-out of smart meters but the taskforce has identified a market-led approach as favourable, where energy companies may offer innovative pricing products that suit the circumstances and lifestyles of their customers,'' she said.